Chaos and Order: Finding Balance
by Ageofmyths
Summary: Existence is searching for both Balance and Order. Here is the story of Balance while Existence -Percy- scours the multiverses for his friends. Third story of my Chaos and Order series. Percabeth, and only story that will be so. Takes place at the same time as the second story, Godly Dissension. WARNING: Not recommended for people without an open mind, especially about space-time.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey all!**

**I know I promised to update my story on Monday, but I had some things to take care of. Please don't get mad! **

**Anyways, here's a continuation, at around the same time as chapter 11 from Insanity and Redemption, of my Chaos and Order series. I will now be updating all three of my stories, as they have reached the same timeline. I understand this may be confusing for some people, but I assure you that this is a completely necessary process so as to ensure the continuity of my tale.**

**The pairing in here will be revealed later on, all though I'm sure that most of you will be able to guess what it is.**

**Please take note: This is currently a different universe than the one Existence is in. That should clear up a few details. You'll have to refer back to the concept of the multiverses if you want t have any hope of understanding what I'm talking about.**

**Anyways, on with the story! **

**Thanks to all of you who have supported my stories this far, especially those who have reviewed. I will definitely try to update one more time this week before Friday, however unlikely that may seem.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO. I only own the main plotline for my **_**series**_** (not the smaller, regular things).**

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Annabeth Chase hurtled down a big alleyway in Manhattan. She thought she had heard a growling noise behind her in the park; she knew it might have been a dog, but she didn't want to take a risk and get chased from behind. What she didn't know, however, was that the events that were about to take place would change her life forever. If she had known, she might have acted differently; being ignorant of the future, though, she ducked into another smaller alleyway on the right side.

She took a step a forward and then gagged; the stench from the nearby dumpster was overpowering; it reeked of decay. _I guess they don't empty these anymore,_ she thought. She decided there was nothing stopping her from exploring further into the alley; it looked deep enough to provide safety from any monster that might have been pursuing her, and there was a light at the other end, which meant that this wasn't a dead end. She frowned as she heard some sounds, however. _Was that a—metallic clang?_ She started sprinting as quietly as she could towards the other end of the alley. As she approached, she saw a sight that made her groan and then got her extremely shocked.

Perseus Jackson was having a rotten day. He had been fighting off monsters for the whole of the past year, ever since he had been kicked out by his step-father, but today was possibly his worst encounter yet. _Seriously! Where the Hades do these monsters learn social skills? And whatever happened to fair play?_ His thoughts were aggravatingly distracting as he went over his battle plans for the fight. Nevertheless, he concentrated on staying alive.

He was getting angry, though. _Seven hellhounds in a single morning, _Percy thought. He whirled his trusty sword Anaklusmos in a wide arc around him; the monsters wouldn't be catching _him_ by surprise. The hellhounds jerked back at the sudden and unexpected attack. Then they all growled. _They_ were the ones hunting their prey, not the other way around! _Oh, you guys don't seem to like that too much, do you? Well, let's see how much you like this,_ he said, bringing up his sword in an uppercut, quickly dispatching one of the hellhounds. The rest howled in rage and three of the monsters pounced on him at the same time. Percy swore as he ducked; he could have gladly done without all these monsters.

He nimbly dodged one as it tried to swipe at him, claws outstretched, and it hurtled towards the side wall, unable to stop its momentum. Percy kicked the hellhound's head hard and smiled internally as the monster collapsed. Next to him, another hellhound took a shot at him, only to find itself impaled on his sword. _Great,_ Percy thought, _only four left._ Percy turned to face four extremely angry hellhounds jump on him; this was not boding well for him. Just as he was about to succumb to their combined strength he noticed a blond girl jump out of the nearby shadows and backstab one of the hellhounds. _Thank the gods. They finally help!_ He was forced out of his thoughts by the sound of three resounding crashes; it seemed that the hellhounds had collided together in an attempt to jump on him. He smirked; he might be able to get out of this just fine.

He spared a glance to the girl; she seemed to have dispatched the hellhound she had pounced on quite efficiently; she was now targeting the closest monster. Percy's smirk turned into a grin when he noticed a water pipe. He felt a tug in his gut as he exerted his will over the water in the pipes, causing it to burst out and blast the two remaining hellhounds against the other wall, where they remained dazed. Percy quickly ran up to them and finished them off. He turned towards the girl, ready to help if he saw any trouble, but she was just fine, if not a bit shaken. _Here we go, I guess._

"Hey. Thanks for helping me out there, I'm really glad you were there, or else I would have been fish food."

Annabeth grinned at his odd thought before answering. "No problem. You're a demigod aren't you?"

"Yeah," Percy said with a smile. "I'm guessing you're one as well."

The introductions were exchanged civilly enough, and they learned each other's godly heritage. Funnily enough, both demigods decided to keep quiet about their parent's rivalry; it seemed neither wanted to pass up the opportunity to talk to someone like themselves.

"Have you been _...travelling..._ on your own for long?"

"It's been a year. You?"

Annabeth noticed how he quickly rebuffed any chance to drop in a question. _I guess I'm not the only one with family problems._

"I've been running for the past four months. I started off in California, and now I find myself in this weird alleyway in Manhattan with a random demigod." She laughed. It felt good to laugh after such a long time. Somehow, in the short five minutes that she had met the new demigod, she had been able to relax for the first time in _ages_. Maybe it was because it was good to know he had survived for a whole year, or maybe it was the fact that if a monster did surprise them now, she wouldn't be alone facing it; whatever the reason may have been, Annabeth Chase was able to relax a little bit. Acting on a sudden whim, she blurted out a question that would surprise her for the next hour.

"Hey, if you're ...travelling... around, can I join you? I mean, you know, because it'll be easier for the both of us and—" Annabeth would have continued, but she was cut off by Percy right away.

"Yeah! Sure! I was actually going to ask you that. I would be very happy for a travelling companion, I'll admit, you get kinda lonely and the monsters are _not_ a piece of cake."

As they both drabbled on, each happy to have met a friend under pretty much the same circumstances as themselves, they realized that they would need to pool resources and do almost _everything_ together. Annabeth scrunched her nose at the thought, but then she realized it might not be a bad thing. She was hesitant to trust, though. She decided both of them talking a lot, finding things out about each other would definitely help her decide what kind of a person Percy Jackson truly is. A question popped on her mind, and she decided she was okay with answering it as well.

"How old are you?"

"I'm turning nine in August. You?"

"I'm turning nine soon, as well. You know, I'm sort of surprised at how you're accepting me. I'm glad I don't have to run alone." She stared intently at him, trying to find out if what he was about to answer was true or not.

Percy face took on a faraway look. He seemed wise beyond his years. Annabeth was surprised by this; she didn't expect someone so young to be able to look that way. "I guess it has to do with the fact that when you're about to die every week, with nothing or nowhere being permanent, it feels good to be able to trust _someone_." Percy paused for a few seconds before breaking into laughter. "But yeah, no worries, I'm not normally like this. I promise; you're not going to run out of reasons to laugh at while I'm around." Percy's smile at the end of the sentence was so genuine that Annabeth couldn't help but grin.

"All right then, let's do this."

From the underworld, Sally Jackson watched with relief as her son finally had someone to look out for him._ Of course, his father doesn't count. Me neither; I can't exactly do much to help him out. Stay safe, son. I love you._

On a parallel universe that the Norse called Midgard, where time ran differently, the being now known as Existence reached out to every single thing present and felt for either Order or Balance. He sighed; it would have been too much to hope that his friends had been ejected into the same universe as him. _Very well,_ he thought, _it's time to pay a visit to the different realms in the multiverses._

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**So, how was it?**

**I apologize for this being a small chapter, but I really could not add any more to it. Besides, I always start off small and end up with long chapters, right? :)**

**I'd definitely welcome reviews.**

**Cheers**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys. Here is the second chapter of finding Balance.**

**I know that the action scenes may be few and far between during these first few chapters, and I apologize in advance for those people waiting to read them. I promise, I will definitely try and reward your patience with longer chapters and bigger scenes.**

**I'm happy you guys already saw this story and started to review it; I might be able to get another update in by tomorrow, but don't count on me updating another story on top of this one by then. I **_**do**_** have quite a bit of work on my hands, you know?**

**I'm happy some of you were able to work your heads around the parallel universes concept I put up, and one of you in my PMs even managed to guess what I was trying to convey properly just from the first chapter.**

**I'd like to thank all of you for your dedication and support to my stories, and I promise I will be updating both of my previous stories **_**very, very**_** soon.**

**Anyways, enough talk, on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: Same as previous chapter.**

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Annabeth was silently stalking the fruit stalls. She would have pinched the vegetables first, but Percy had this weird obsession with blueberries. He had pleaded her to get a few for him while he went and 'collected' some meat and potatoes. The two of them had been living, running, travelling together for the past eight months. They would usually pull of a 'big heist', like Percy called it, every two weeks, living off what they had managed to gather until the next golden opportunity to grab food. They were lucky the cities and towns they passed through set up a market on the streets at some point in the week; it was extremely hard to steal groceries any other way. It was even harder to steal food from restaurants; but they had managed to pull it off easily enough.

It went against both their morals, of course, to steal more than necessary. So they ended up paying, some times. Any time they could, they paid. Other times, they ran. Annabeth smiled at the thought; they had both become very accomplished long distance runners. As she nicked a handful of blueberries, she heard a loud rumbling noise in the distance. She muttered silently that it was a necessity; Percy _really_ liked the blueberries, but it was more to herself than to appease whichever god or goddess that might have been watching.

She wondered why she had gone to get the blueberries first; then she realized that it was so that if she was caught, she could still run away with _something_ for Percy instead of the vegetables. As she realized what she had done, she tried to rationalize it. _Why did I do it for Percy? We need those vegetables more!_ Unfortunately, she couldn't come to a conclusive, rational reason.

Thankfully, she had not been found out, and the duffel bag she carried was big enough to fit most of the delicious food she wanted. Annabeth hadn't been much of a cook when she ran away from her father and step-mother; but right now, even her step-mother would be proud of her skills. It _was_ kind of necessary; Percy was absolutely _hopeless_ when it came to gastronomy. As a trade-off, though, she forced him to clean up afterwards, secure their small camp all of the time. She also made him wash their clothes; she figured it was easy enough for him anyways, drying with a bit of hand waving and all. He never complained about his chores, or anything Annabeth did for him, for which she was grateful, but he annoyed her to death with just about anything else.

As she reached their small 'encampment', as she liked to call it; or their tent and fire pit, like Percy called it, she heard the sound of feet shuffling, very quietly, behind her. She smiled; she knew Percy was the only likely culprit; they had fought off all the monsters for this week, if the numbers and her tingling senses were any indication. She allowed herself to be surprised, hand covering her eyes, asking her to guess who it was, as she thought about how they had been killing exactly four monsters each week. _The gods should pay us; we're doing Olympus and demigods tons of favours, _she smirked internally. She was jostled back to reality as Percy, too impatient to wait for her, grabbed her shoulders and turned them around excitedly.

"Wise girl, see what I got!" She stared at his palm as he uncovered a small bottle of... blue food colouring? She didn't know what to make of the situation.

"What the Hades is that, Percy? Where's our food? What do you want me to do with that?" She was starting to get really frustrated with him now. He tended to get side-tracked if he didn't have a clear goal, and she was worried he had not picked up his part of their supplies.

"Relax, Annabeth," Percy was taken aback by her sudden hostility. "I have all the stuff in my bag. No, I was just showing you that I managed to find some blue food colouring!" Annabeth sighed as Percy's face lit up at his own words. _Why does he like blue food so much... Oh right. A son of Poseidon._ She ventured the question to make sure of her answer.

"Percy, what is it with you and blue food?" Percy had been expecting the question for a while; he had meant to explain to her before why he liked blueberries so much, but with his ADHD he had quickly forgotten about it.

"See, it's this argument that my mom had with Smelly Gabe. He said there was no such thing as blue food, and then the next day mom went and got us blue food colouring and made us some blue pasta. I really liked blueberries, too, so I decided they were blue enough to fall under this category. So, yeah, I'm really happy I finally found some blue food colouring. Do you think you could make us some blue pasta? I haven't had that in ages. Trust me; the blue colour only makes it better!"

Annabeth chuckled; she finally understood Percy's odd obsession. Sure, Annabeth liked apples; she just wasn't as crazy about them as Percy was with blueberries. She decided to grace him with a smile; this was a matter that Percy obviously held close to his heart, and she would definitely help him.

With a mock glare, Annabeth replied. "Fine, Seaweed brain. I'll do it. Now go start the fire while I decide what to do with these," she said, taking out some carrots. She knew Percy hated lighting the fire, and she figured it had something to do with it being a volatile object that Percy could only quench. She still made him do it ever since the day they had found out that he could touch a flame and not be burnt easily; it made both their jobs that much easier.

_His father's element. He's such a lucky guy._ Annabeth chided herself for thinking like that. Even if her mother hadn't given her cool powers or gifts, she knew that by being extremely smart, she more than made up for Percy's lack of knowledge. She also had a small feeling that _maybe_ her mother's gift was that she didn't stop her from joining Percy; Annabeth knew that Athena probably didn't like the fact that she was travelling with Percy.

As she went through their bag of supplies, she noticed that somehow, Percy had managed to find them more than enough pasta for a whole week. She grinned; she had initially planned on getting the pasta fully cooked blue even if it meant having to take some of it, but now she could keep some _normal_ pasta for herself as well. _I guess Seaweed brain might actually have a brain._ She smiled at the thought; they had found their nicknames for each other within the first week. It had initially been meant as an insult, but both names had stuck.

The rest of the weekend went by quickly; since they didn't have much in the way of entertainment, they would usually talk a lot, evading talk of the reasons behind running away, but still talking about their old lives. Percy didn't mind it at all; in fact, he loved telling Annabeth of his mom. Annabeth was somewhat wistful when she heard how kind and gentle his mother was; she wished her step-mom had been that way. When the talk turned to her father, she had tears in her eyes. He had been such a nice person, and yet, after the marriage, he had stuck by her step-mom, which in turn brought about her running away.

Percy saw those tears and felt extremely bad; he hated to see her sad, and always tried to cheer her up any way he could. He always thought of it as his one gift; he could cheer anyone up. To him, that gift was as precious as Anaklusmos; he wouldn't have traded it for anything. He got up and sat right next to her, putting an arm on her shoulder and squeezing it; she seemed to like it a bit, even if she didn't show it much. He decided he would talk about his own step-father; at least something to help her relate, something to help her understand that it was going to be okay.

So, almost in a whisper, he started to tell Annabeth about Smelly Gabe. How he was nice the first time he and his mom met him, how he showed his true colours later on. Percy almost told her about how Gabe used to hit him, but decided that would not have been a good idea. So he described how he got his nickname, and almost every bad thing about him. Throughout the story, Annabeth had calmed down. In fact, at the current point in time, she had a frown on her face. Percy knew that frown; she was wondering about something and she was about to ask him. He waited for the question, gesturing to Annabeth to ask away.

"Percy, tell me. Did he hit you?" Her voice was so _gentle _and mesmerizing that he almost forgot the question.

Hearing the question from Annabeth struck a nerve; he didn't want anyone to think of him as a weakling, least of all Annabeth. But there was something about her demeanour that chipped at his inner walls. She truly meant well, and for the first time ever, Percy didn't know what to say. He didn't need to; Annabeth took his silence as confirmation and returned the hug he had given her, a long hour before. They both stayed that way until the moon was starting to dip in the sky; Artemis was finishing her nightly run. The two separated and went into their tent, each mulling over the events of the day.

In the morning, after a very light breakfast of energy bars and some hot chocolate, Annabeth asked him a question that surprised him.

"Percy, does your sword have a name?" He wondered why he hadn't told her that; it should have been one of his first topics.

"Um yeah, I'm sorry; I can't believe I haven't told you this before. Yeah, it's called Anaklusmos."

Her eyes widened a fraction, she knew exactly what it meant, and she figured she had an English name for it. "Sweet. The tide that takes you by surprise... How about you call it Riptide in English, seeing as it means the same thing?"

Percy had of course never thought of that. He was genuinely happy to be able to introduce it to her properly; the two would train, sometimes, against each other, but the name was engraved in a place you don't really notice while duelling. He was glad she had been able to help him; it kind of embarrassed him to keep on having to introduce it by its Greek name. "Riptide... I like it." He smiled.

She grinned back at him as well, before hearing a ridiculously powerful roar behind her. It seemed far away, but both demigods knew that this was their monster of the day. Percy, of course, being less knowledgeable about the identities of all the monsters in Greek lore than Annabeth, turned to her with a questioning look.

"Seaweed brain, that's so obviously the Nemean lion... Didn't you read the myths?"

"I did, but they're so lengthy! Anyways, how do we beat this one?"

Annabeth pursed her lips before answering. "I'm not too sure. Heracles beat him by strangling him, but I'm not sure either of us can strangle it."

Percy nodded, it didn't sound as if the roar came from a pygmy lion; he was only strong enough to strangle those, and he wasn't even sure they existed. Then suddenly, something clicked inside of him.

"Wait... Heracles? As in Hercules, the one who did the twelve labours?"

Annabeth sighed; he _really _was a seaweed brain. "Yes, _that _Hercules. Listen up, his skin is nearly impenetrable; you're not gonna be able to cut through it with Riptide." Percy's momentary smile at the name of his sword faded when he understood what it entailed. Nothing good for him or for Annabeth. He shivered at the thought.

"So what do we do?" Annabeth's brain went into overdrive as she planned different plans and back-up plans for each, all at the same time. The fact that bothered her was that each of her plans outlined the necessity to _run_ more than finding a possible answer. _The million drachma question; what do we do?_

She couldn't come up with a suitable plan in time, though. Just as she was about to tell Percy to separate and poke for a weak point, the beast itself jumped out into the clearing and tried to pounce on Annabeth. Key word, _tried._ Percy heard the beast nearing while he was waiting for Annabeth to come up with something; he knew that Athena always had a plan, and so he trusted Annabeth to tell him what to do. He wore a face that radiated the urgency of the situation, however, and when the lion actually appeared in front of them and went to attack Annabeth; he knew he couldn't wait anymore. Certainly _not_ when it was about to attack her.

Gathering as much strength as he could, Percy powered into the side of the great lion that was in mid-air. Both of them rolled clear of Annabeth, the lion clearly not expecting that much strength from the young son of Poseidon. Annabeth saw a primal look in Percy's eyes and wondered what had happened to him. What Percy did next, however, shocked her completely. He punched the lion on the side that he had collided with. _You idiot of a Seaweed brain! You're going to break your hand!_

She was not prepared for what happened instead. The lion went _flying_ sideways into a nearby giant oak tree and broke the tree in two. She turned to cheer at Percy, not quite comprehending how he had gotten that surge of power, but what she saw instead worried her immensely. Percy was a dozen metres from the lion, moving towards it, but at each step he faltered until finally dropping down, unable to move a few metres from the monster. She started to run towards him; she absolutely _needed_ to know he was okay, but as soon as she reached him, she saw the lion staggering up.

She cursed under her breath and cursed again when she realized she had left her dagger behind. She looked around Percy for a weapon and found Riptide. Uncapping it, she prepared herself to the best of her ability. Percy came round to see the lion about to jump on Annabeth, when dozens of silver tipped arrows were shot at the lion. All of them hit it; even if none of them did any damage it was enough to distract the lion so that Annabeth had the chance to stab it. And so, Annabeth Chase stabbed the Nemean lion with Riptide through the mouth. _All the way up to its brain_, she suspected.

As the monster dissolved around her, Percy got up and was met with a fierce hug from her. He was slightly surprised, but immensely glad that he was alive with her. He wondered what to do next as a whole group of what looked like girls with bows and in silver outfits strutted out in a ring next to them. They sneered at him; disdain clear in their eyes as he wondered what he had done, while Annabeth looked wide-eyed at them. She whispered into his ears that these were the Hunters of Artemis, and his eyes fell on one of them who looked twelve and had auburn hair. The same girl walked up to both of them and was about to demand why they had interrupted the hunt when Percy fell to his knees with a protective arm around Annabeth, whom he dragged down next to him.

"We apologize, Lady Artemis, for disturbing you. It was truly not our intention, and we apologize if we have kept the Hunt from getting its prey. I am none the less extremely grateful for your compassion and for the help you gave my friend in taking the monster down." Percy decided this was good enough as an ice-breaker; he _certainly_ didn't want Artemis to provide the first few words of their conversation. He noticed that the Hunters seemed taken aback at his attitude, almost as if they had not been expecting this. Artemis watched the two demigods with a slight tinge of amusement; this demigod definitely knew how to tread carefully with her.

"Rise, maiden, and rise, son of Poseidon. Yes, I know who you are, and don't worry, I'm the only goddess that does, though I suspect Poseidon may have mentioned it to Hestia. Either ways; you are safe at the current moment." When Artemis finished, Annabeth saw some of her Hunters had astonished looks on their faces, and one, with something like a tiara on her crown, which she guessed marked her as the lieutenant of the Hunt, seemed downright perplexed; as if she couldn't reconcile Percy's parentage and gender with his behaviour and attitude. Annabeth turned and noticed there was a spoil of war from the Nemean lion; its skin. She decided it would be perfect as a peace offering.

"Lady Artemis, please take this cloak, as it is so rightfully the Hunt's." She looked over to Percy and saw him giving her an approving look.

"No, child. It belongs rightfully to you, for you were the one to pierce the monster with your sword, were you not?" _Actually, that wasn't true._

"No, Lady Artemis, I was not. I used Percy's sword, _Riptide_. After I ran to him I noticed I had left my dagger behind and so I grabbed the nearest weapon I could." Annabeth said, pointing to Riptide. She noticed Artemis staring at the weapon in a weird fashion; the lieutenant of the Hunt seemed to be doing the same thing.

"May I see, the weapon, my dear?" Artemis asked Annabeth, who shrugged and pointed to Percy, who graciously handed over his only means of defence to the Goddess of the Hunt. Percy noticed that the huntress he had seen looking at him earlier came over and whispered something to Artemis, who gave her a questioning look before nodding.

"Boy, this weapon has a tragic past. I hope for your sake that you wield it rightfully, and properly. Now, Hunters, hand over the cloak to this boy; it is his by right." Annabeth looked at the both of them, wondering how _that _had happened. Artemis then explained that Anaklusmos could not be used by anyone other than Percy without him giving them express permission.

Annabeth reeled at the thought; that must have meant that Percy's subconscious took over at some point and helped her take his sword, thus protecting her. She turned to him and saw him giving her an apologetic smile. _Oh, you Seaweed brain. You don't have to be sorry for that; I'm happy you were able to help me!_ Annabeth was jolted out from her thoughts as she heard Artemis speaking again, looking directly at her.

"Normally, I would offer you a position in the Hunt, and indeed, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, you are welcome to join us, but I believe this _boy_," Artemis said, pointing to Percy in a condescending manner, "is good enough a travel companion. Let us hope for both your sakes that you live until the next time we meet." Artemis, having finished her speech, was about to turn when she saw Percy take off the lion skin cloak and drape it around Annabeth. The Huntresses were slightly taken aback, they expected the boy to act like the arrogant, usual male and keep it for himself, their prejudiced beliefs taking a blow.

Artemis chuckled inwardly before asking what he was doing. He answered that Annabeth had saved his life, therefore without her, he would be nothing, and thus she deserved it more than he did. Artemis' lips curled the slightest bit possible before she bade them farewell and left with her Hunt.

Meanwhile, Annabeth pondered on his choice of words. _He would be 'nothing' without me? Why didn't he say he would be 'dead' without me? I'll have to ask him that later on._

Percy smiled internally as he saw Annabeth wondering about something. He hoped it was about his intended pun, because he felt like he truly meant it. He was glad to be rid of the Hunters, they scared him so much that if Annabeth had not been there, he would have definitely been stuttering and mumbling the second he started speaking.

Sally Jackson gazed wondering at her marvellous son. She had lots of questions on her mind; namely, where had her son found enough strength to ram into the _Nemean lion_ and punch him hard enough to send it crashing into a tree; but she realized she would have to wait for the answer. Her time at the Elysium Scrying Pool was up; it was time for the next person to watch over whoever they wanted to.

Artemis pondered on what she had seen; the Hunt had not actually been chasing the lion, it had simply caught onto its trail by passing near the forest. When they had arrived on the scene and noticed the lion about to pounce on the two demigods, Artemis had waved off her Hunters. She had wanted to see what would happen next.

What transpired after that left her stunned; she wasn't sure if sons of Poseidon could be this powerful. She certainly hadn't heard of one being given the blessing of super-strength like Hercules had. She had then gestured at her Hunt to help the demigoddess out before she got killed.

Now, she was wondering if she had done the right thing by letting the pair of them go. She had sensed almost immediately that Perseus Jackson had no blessing on him whatsoever, yet she could have sworn that at the moment when he had punched the lion he had an aura of power and... harmony surrounding him. _As weird as that sounds, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it was._ She decided she would keep an eye on them, whenever she could. They promised to be extremely _interesting_.

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**So, again, what are your views on this so far?**

**I have to say I liked writing certain parts of it, while others were extremely unappealing.**

**I'll be updating this and Godly Dissension as soon as I hit 10k combined views (Hint: We're not too far off).**

**Until next time, les amis!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys!**

**Sorry for taking so long to update this story.**

**AS A HEADS UP: I will not be updating Insanity and Redemption right now, although I probably should. **

**I first need to recount the events that happen in this story and my other one before I can put up chapter twelve of Insanity and Redemption. I hope you can all understand why I'm doing this. If you don't it'll become clear enough soon anyways.**

**I want to thank all of you lovely people for Pm'ing, Reviewing, Following, Favouriting, Suggesting different things, and basically supporting me throughout the stories.**

**I understand some of you are confused by how jumbled up everything seems, especially in reference to timelines.**

_**I just wanted to remind you that these events are happening in parallel timelines; meaning that things can happen at the same time, even though this is the third story in the series.**_

**As you may have realized by now, in my stories, Percy Jackson is epic, no matter what. He might be down at times, up at others, but that doesn't change the fact that he is one of the best demigods ever. So like it, hate it, meh it, it'll stay that way.**

**Disclaimer: Check the previous ones.**

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Artemis had decided how she wanted to play this out. Even if she couldn't keep a constant watch on the two demigods, she knew someone who could do it, albeit in a different fashion. She knew what had to be done. Placing her huntresses in the command of her lieutenant Zoë, Artemis left for Olympus. It was time to visit Hestia, her favourite aunt.

Annabeth was extremely tired. The events of the day had worn her out immensely. The fact that Percy had been by her side, fighting and training with her was one of the only reasons why she was trying not to fall asleep right now. _Just half an hour, Annabeth, then you can sleep, _she told herself. She clenched her teeth. She would _not_ look weak in front of her ... best friend? _More like only friend._

She didn't want Percy to think of her as a weakling; Percy himself was extremely talented and strong. She had found out as much during their time together. She finally understood why he was able to easily take on numerous monsters at the same time. She wouldn't admit it to him, but he had impressed her during the past few months. He was incredibly sweet, too; always looking out for her. _I guess it's because I was doing the same thing for him._

Percy didn't understand why Annabeth was trying to stay awake so bad. He was getting slightly worried; she had been training harder than him all day long; she should have been asleep by now. His worry only deepened when she trembled and dropped to the ground near their tent. He immediately rushed over to help her up.

_Annabeth you bloody useless klutz!_ You can't even do _one_ thing right. No, she couldn't even get to the tent properly. _I'm not weak! _She couldn't help but relax in Percy's grip, however, when he helped her up and into her tent. Her mind started to wander; her ADHD decided this instant to act up.

She wondered where Percy had found their tent; she hadn't seen him carry it around with him, but every week, when they moved, Percy would manage to send her off to do some menial task or another while he set up the tent. Annabeth didn't complain too much, she was more than happy to start the fire while he worked on the tent pegs.

When she blurted her question out loud, Percy chuckled. He debated whether to make up a story or simply tell her the truth, but then he decided against lying to her. She was one of the only people he truly trusted; it didn't seem right to break this link with her because of a useless argument. He mentioned getting it from Poseidon, but when he started to tell the story in full detail, he heard Annabeth snoring softly. _She looks extremely cute like that, _Percy mused. Then he chastised himself; it wouldn't do to be thinking about his best and _only_ friend like that.

True, Grover had been a good friend, but he hadn't been able to connect with him properly. Grover wasn't able to tell what he meant when he said things once, without explaining. Grover wouldn't get the glint in his eyes when he noticed Percy about to pull some trick. Annabeth, however, was completely different and much better in more ways than one.

With those lovely conflicting thoughts, Percy put out the fire and went to sleep.

Unknown to him, Hestia had been watching over the two. She had a deep feeling in her gut that these really needed a mother figure; she resolved to be that figure. By unconventional means, of course; he was not allowed to watch over them like she had been doing, blasting any monsters coming near them with her fiery bolts of destruction. She didn't like to be violent; but she had already made up her mind. _Nothing _was going to stop her from protecting the two (not-so) little demigods.

Zeus was beginning to suspect something, though, and that wasn't good. She would have to think of some other way to help them. _No, I can't watch over them much longer. I'll have to help them out by the end of this month._

"Until then, my little ones, I'll keep you safe..." she whispered softly, her voice blown away in the wind.

Thanatos groaned. His ribs hurt terribly, and he was mad beyond comprehension. _Why in Tartarus did Kâmpe attack ME! I am DEATH, for Hades' sake. Curse that temptress of a witch. _

Try as he might, however, he couldn't break away from his bonds. He was extremely angry, something that should not have been possible for the ever tranquil and morbidly beautiful entity that he was. His twin brother had tried to come and free him, only to be met with an impenetrable shield (at least to him) which stopped any kind of interaction. From what Thanatos understood, it was a magical barrier that had convinced Hypnos that Thanatos was perfectly fine and actually enjoying himself.

_What a shit piece of luck._ Thanatos surprised himself; he wasn't one to be rash with vulgarities, and he definitely did not have anything against Fortuna. He figured he would be saved from his miseries sooner or later. He preferred sooner than later, but as far as he could tell, Hecate had only done this to spite him. The doors of Death were still closed; _I suppose I'll have to go and thank Hades for having made a double set of keys after all._

A useless, annoying, and stupid prank that almost accidentally faded him. Thanatos laughed bitterly at the irony of the situation. He wasn't sure if Hecate had planned on Kâmpe appearing beating the living death out of him, but it had still happened. Hecate was going to pay once he got out, no matter how much she batted her eyelashes at him.

There was a small hitch in his plan. _The 'getting out' part is not going to be easy. Let's hope a demigod happens to wander around here; I'll make sure it gets well rewarded if it helps me._

Just as he was thinking those thoughts, a bright green flame appeared in front of him. He instantly bowed, even with all the pain racking his body. The goddess in front of him didn't need to be bowed to, but he respected her immensely, and she was definitely the nicest and oldest goddess around. From this generation, at least.

"My lady Hestia, what can I do for you? You will have to excuse me if I take some time in being able to help you with the matter, however; as you can see, these shackles are no joke."

Hestia only smiled at him and placed her hands on his chest. He was about to ask her what she was doing when he felt his body glow with extreme warmth. Suddenly, all the pain he felt was gone, and instead, there was a foreign feeling inside him. He realized this was the power of Elpis; the goddess had nurtured him with the aura of Hope, and he was feeling extremely powerful. With a swift bolt of pure darkness he melted his chains and rose. He thanked the goddess of the hearth in front of him, and listened to her instructions carefully. He was shocked at first; he didn't think Hestia would have finally found someone to do this to, but that paled in comparison to what he felt when he understood what Hestia required of him.

"But, my lady, this isn't right! Nobody should have that! It is a curse, not a blessing!"

"Thanatos, do as you see fit. However, I promise, that person is not what he seems. The _curse_, as you call it, will fit him perfectly. If you are ever in need of a reward for him, think on what I have said."

A flash of very warm orange light and a few thousand degrees later, Thanatos was alone. He wondered how he would ever get in a position of such need that the reward to the demigod who helped him would be such a curse, but he filed that thought away for later. If Hestia was right, it wouldn't be for a couple of years. Right now, he was late for work, and Hades would not be happy. Besides, he had a date with Hecate. He smiled maliciously; a _very_ cool date with Hecate was more than enough to lift his spirits.

Annabeth sighed; for some reason, the past month they had only had to face two monsters. Not that she wasn't happy; she was glad for the period of rest. Nevertheless, something definitely seemed odd about the matter. Percy, being the seaweed brain that he usually was, laughed it off as a month of vacation.

_I bet they're just gathering up somewhere to overwhelm us._ She decided that had to be it; she would have to mention it to Percy. She didn't know how he would take it, but she knew enough to be sure that if she thought something deserved proper attention and speculation, Percy would not contradict her.

When they got up the next day, they were both met with an unusual sight. The goddess of the hearth stood in front of them, burning away the last of a battalion of monsters. When she finished, she turned around to them, with a warm and welcoming smile on her face. The demigods both bowed down to her, on their knees, and thanked her for her obvious aid. The goddess of the hearth came up to them and lifted both of them.

After her story had been told, Hestia watched for any signs of disbelief and anger. What surprised her was that the two demigods shared a smile and ran up to her and hugged her tightly. She could feel the tears in her eyes; she realized she truly did wish they were her children.

"Dear ones, that isn't exactly all of it. I am afraid I cannot help you any longer; at least not even in the indirect way that I was helping you. Zeus is suspicious, and we cannot have that. Therefore, I am going to be leaving you with a parting gift."

The demigods both looked up at her with a hint of sadness in their eyes, as well as a slight questioning gaze.

"Perseus, you first. Wherever you go, _whenever_ you go, remember the hearth, and it shall remember you." The cryptic message was too much for Percy to decipher, but he thanked her nevertheless. When she turned towards Annabeth, her eyes changed to a fiery orange. Percy yelped backwards, she had _fire_ instead of eyes. Both of the companions laughed at that, before resuming their serious gaze.

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, for you, I have something _bigger_ in mind." Percy's head perked up from his previous embarrassment; this was going to be interesting.

"If you accept, then I would make you, Annabeth, my champion. You are the first person I have offered this to, but know this; so far, you are the only one I have deemed worthy of the responsibility." Percy was about to ask what exactly that entailed for Annabeth, when she cut him off.

"My lady, I accept, under one condition. Will I still be able to stay with anyone I want and go about my life in the same way as ever?"

"Yes of course, my dear. The only true responsibility in the hearth is to be able to care for the flame that burns within all of us; the flame of Elpis. Cherish it and nourish it, the world will be a better place." Annabeth bowed her head in reverence, and Percy followed. Hestia acknowledged their respect and smiled at both of them. She had chosen her champion well, and her champion had chosen her hero well.

She left with the final instruction that they could both communicate with whomever they wanted without fear of being overheard or interrupted by the means of a simple flame. It was a more secure method of communication than an iris-message, and only the blessed of Hestia could use it.

When she left, Annabeth chuckled. Percy was intrigued.

"What's so funny, wise girl?"

"Oh nothing. I just realized, this is happening almost like in a book I read." Percy's brows quirked up.

"Oh really? What book?"

"Lord of the Rings. With the flame of Arnor, which meant hope, and now I am the wielder of the flame. It's just funny." Percy was surprised; he didn't think Annabeth would have read that series of books, she didn't seem the type to like fantasy. He remembered seeing the movies once when Gabe had rented them. He had snuck up behind the large sofa and had watched the whole thing while Gabe kept taking big swigs of beer. He mentioned that he knew what she was talking about, and noted with slight humour the incredulous look on Annabeth's face. An idea suddenly popped into his head.

"Wait, Annabeth, maybe you can make fire too! Hestia is your patron, now right? So technically, you should be able to do what she does, even if it is at a lower level."

Annabeth's eyes brightened up considerably, and for a moment Percy thought that hers would turn to flame as well. Then, a small orange flame grew from her hands, slowly enveloping her body. Percy stepped back; he knew he was somewhat fire proof, but this was not some small flame.

As it grew, Annabeth's smile did the same. Finally, Percy couldn't stand it anymore, and being extremely happy for her he conjured up a thick water shield around him and ran up to her.

The happenings of the next few seconds were unclear to the both of them. It seemed that Percy had kissed Annabeth's cheek, and in return her whole body shot off a deep blue flame before turning off. When she turned towards him, she saw him run away and promptly jump into their tent. With a smile on her face she walked up to their current home. She had a feeling deep in her heart that for some reason she would always be at home if Percy was around.

* * *

Annabeth was cursing softly. She wondered what her dad would think of her now; a fourteen year old demigoddess wielding fire and bronze in battle like it was the most natural thing ever. That wasn't the reason she was cursing, however. Her ADHD mind still gave her some problems sometimes. No, she was cursing because as proficient with fire and bronze though she might be, the Minotaur from the bunch of monsters they were currently facing had managed to get behind her, and had almost swung his axe in a bid to decapitate her. She was cursing because Percy had intercepted the strike by liquefying himself and travelling behind her with his sword up. She was cursing because he had jarred his arm from blocking the direct strike, and as a result he was not able to defend himself when the Minotaur lunged at him, full of rage and hate.

Annabeth had turned too late to be of any help to Percy; she could only watch as thousands of ice shards dug deep into the Minotaur's body as it brought its axe downwards. She could only stare in horror as that axe lodged itself deep into the shoulder of her Percy.

She was cursing because she still had to fight off the last few monsters and couldn't run to help Percy in his time of extreme need.

Over the years together, both demigods had become extremely powerful. Water and Fire went together surprisingly well; a fact that neither of them missed. When Percy had first liquefied himself and travelled at extreme speeds in that form, Annabeth had almost _squealed_ in happiness for her friend. Then rushed forward to help him as he stumbled towards her in his human form, tired from the exertion.

She had found another power that day; the soothing and healing power of the hearth. Percy had been up and awake in no time, and from then on Annabeth was team healer as well as fire starter.

Right now, she was the only one within miles who could help her friend, and she was occupied. With a frightful shriek of pure frustration she exploded in a wave of fire around her, effectively ruining everything within the blast radius of thirty yards. Thankfully, Percy was just out of that. She rushed to him in, panting slightly from the fight, and knelt next to him, tears in her eyes.

Because the wound was beyond her abilities.

She scolded herself. That would never stop Percy from trying, and neither would it stop her. She wasn't going to let her Percy die simply due to something as stupid as _inability._

She did her best, and Percy spluttered and coughed some blood up. She noticed with some slight misplaced interest that it had black and white streaks in it, just like all those times that Percy had bled before. She turned towards the being they had saved. Only then did she notice it was a god. She took a step back, afraid. It wasn't the fact it was a god that scared her. No, it was the fact that this was Death.

For some reason, she understood that Death wasn't going to take Percy away, and she prayed to the former to help her save him.

Thanatos chuckled; this was the first time someone had prayed to Death to save the life of someone. The world was full of irony these days. He had fallen into one of Hecate's 'payback' traps again, and this time had the misfortune of being next to two of the most powerful demigods he had seen. Misfortune was the correct word. He had watched helplessly as the group of monsters eyed the god hungrily before noticing the demigods and deciding they would make perfect appetizers.

Thanatos felt like a hypocrite. Hecate's trap had a timer on it, and he had been able to get out only after the demigoddess in front of him had destroyed all of them.

He recognized the two demigods. They were the ones that Hestia had warned him about, warned him to bless the male. He finally understood why the demigod would need the curse; it seemed like the two in front of him could not afford to be taken down too easily by anything. There was more to the argument than that, of course. However, that would suffice till now.

Perseus Jackson was awake and happy. Thanatos had offered both of them a reward, but Annabeth had declined the offer; she had a feeling that this was the time when only Percy should receive a blessing. Besides, she had said, there's a reason you don't want to be blessed by Death.

Thanatos sighed before blessing Percy. He explained what it entailed afterwards, and then both demigods paled. He left them on their own after that, but reminded them that he would gladly help both of them if ever the occasion presented itself that those two needed him.

Annabeth Chase inspected her best friend all over before opening her mouth. She could feel a small blush painting her cheeks, and she was certain Percy had seen it as well. No sound came out, though. Percy inquired and found himself asked to create a mirror. He looked at himself; this was definitely a different person in front of him. That person had a deadly look about his eyes. He had a stunningly beautiful face, and when he asked Annabeth how he looked, that was the one answer he got back.

Indeed, Perseus Jackson did not look sexy. He did not look 'hot', as most people of his age would say. No; Perseus Jackson was beautiful, and it was a much older look than Annabeth was accustomed to. She was not going to complain, and she definitely had a smile on her face.

In his rush to melt the mirror and to find out what else he could do, Percy did not notice the aura that he was radiating. Annabeth did, however, and she was surprised. It was not an aura of death; it was more an aura of pure bliss and inner strength. Simply being in the presence of Percy made her giddy. She did not know that Death could have such a welcoming embrace, and she was definitely admiring the changes in her friend.

Both of them stopped what they were doing when large, black, feathery wings emerged from Percy's back. The demigod in question did not know what to make of it; he had not envisaged such a possibility. He turned to his friend for advice when he noticed her looking at him with a sense of awe.

"What is it, Wise Girl?"

Annabeth shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts. "Nothing, Seaweed brain. It's just that if your wings were white in colour, you would look like an angel."

Both of them blushed at the comment, and just as Annabeth was about to turn away, Percy's voice took on a deeper, silky smooth tinge. "You are right, of course. Look upon me, for now I am become Death, the true spirit of Vengeance!" **(A/N Sorry for butchering the quote. I just couldn't help myself.)**

As he said those words, Percy's wings lifted him up in the sky, and his whole body began to glow in an unnatural black light, a shining beacon against the background of twilight, letting Annabeth bask and revel in the warmth those long sheaths of cold light.

That, of course, brought back the Percy she knew, and he immediately glided back down to earth.

He grinned before answering. "I think we're gonna have an interesting couple of months."

Annabeth rolled her eyes at Percy's comment and took off to their tent.

They still hunted down monsters, and they still trained with their weapons, but both of them knew that their lives had taken a turn for the better. Annabeth had a fleeting feeling in her heart; she knew that nothing good that happened ever lasted long, but the past few months of Percy's training with her had made both of their powers grow constantly, if a bit slowly. She was beginning to wonder if they had an upper limit, and decided against finding out. She wasn't sure if she would be able to deal with the fact that she was restricted by a limit if she found out.

She was right, of course. Nothing good ever lasted. One day, approximately seven months after Percy's fourteenth birthday, the two inseparable friends came upon a giant eagle and a gryphon fighting over a nest. The eagle lost to the gryphon, which then decided to feast on the two demigods. Percy, of course, would have none of it, and took to the air with his trusty sword in an effort to stop the monster from hurting Annabeth.

He took it too far, though. He flew higher than he should have, and that was when thunder rumbled _extremely_ fiercely in the sky. Annabeth could only pray that Zeus wouldn't vaporize Percy once he found out. When Percy hit the ground running towards her, she did the only thing she could think of. Then they were both surrounded with golden light, and the next instant they were in the throne room on Olympus. Percy's face stung from the slap, but he knew he deserved it. What he didn't expect, however, was the fact that Annabeth flung herself at him once they appeared in the presence of the gods.

Zeus looked at both of them before sighing. The previous _conversation_ had been pretty useless. Even he could not deny that this seemed to be the child of the Prophecy.

_A few minutes previously:_

"_POSEIDON!" Zeus roared. He was going to grill his brother with a good bunch of lightning bolts for disobeying him._

_The whole Pantheon watched the two gods argue, and when they relented both were surprised. Athena had joined Poseidon's side, just like Hera. The latter was the first to speak._

"_Zeus, I have a feeling this child is the one. And stop acting like an idiot. We both know that someone blessed by Thanatos needs to be able to fly, even if it is a son of Poseidon. Don't act like it's a personal affront, either. Remember, YOU broke the oath first. Now, let us summon the two demigods and discuss what to do with them."_

_The council stared in silence as the Queen of Olympus spoke. Slowly, a muttering between the big three grew and they reached an agreement._

"Children, you cannot be allowed to roam around the world without _protection_ any longer. You must be brought to Camp Half-Blood, where you will find others such as you."

Both demigods stared at the King of Olympus open-mouthed. They had not expected those words to come out from him, never in a thousand years. Especially not the revelation about a Camp for Demigods.

Athena and Poseidon both looked at their respective children tenderly; this was going to be a tough few years for them. Then they turned to one another, and shared a quiet look full of tenderness, which wasn't missed by Hestia.

"One last thing, Perseus, Annabeth. Don't try and show off too much, will you?"

Everyone chuckled at that, and parted. The next morning, two very anxious demigods stepped up to a big pine tree and walked past the big dragon that was curled around it. Eventually, they arrived in front of a Centaur, and bowed.

When they stood up, they noticed everyone in the camp bowing in acknowledgement and gasping slightly; the two demigods had been claimed almost instantly. Lady Hestia rose from the crowd and greeted both demigods with a loving hug. The explosion of sounds that followed was deafening; Percy sighed. It was going to be a long year at camp.

* * *

**So guys, please tell me, how was it? I need to know if you guys think if I don't do enough of a specific type of writing, like action or fluff or what not (I don't write too much fluff, so don't expect too much from me).**

**Next update might be tomorrow, might be Sunday, not quite sure yet. All I know is getting more reviews is only going to make the process quicker.**

**Cheers to all of you who do review, it means a lot.**

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**I apologize to all the people I haven't replied to, I'll get around to it very soon.**

**À la prochaine, chers lecteurs. **


	4. Chapter 4

**(A/N): Hey guys!**

**Sorry for the late update, I meant to put this chapter up yesterday, but halfway through I found that I needed to talk about a lot more things, and it was late at night so I just fell asleep.**

**Hopefully I won't bore you with this new chapter.**

**Thanks to all of you for your awesome reviews and PMs. It really makes my day, and also works as an incentive to write faster. :)**

**I have mixed feelings about this chapter, and I'm sure you'll understand why once you read it.**

**Disclaimer: Same as previous ones.**

* * *

Camp Half Blood was nothing like they had expected. Annabeth had kept her abilities low, and even though her younger brother Malcolm had offered her his position of Athena Cabin counsellor, Annabeth had been told not to let him know.

She didn't mind not telling him. She was just glad to be accepted in the Camp by all the demigods present, just like Percy. The campers had _expressed their interest_ with regards to the fact that Percy was a son of Poseidon, and had been silenced by the glare that Chiron had sent them.

When they had some time to themselves, though, Percy always found Annabeth, or vice-versa, and they would run off into the woods surrounding the camp. Chiron had noticed this, just like a few of the campers, but nobody said anything; the two demigods were more than capable fighters; it would be more likely that the usual monsters would avoid them, and not the other way around.

When Annabeth had first met Percy, she had thought that their relationship would be purely platonic; now, however, she didn't know how to describe their bond. _Come on, Annabeth. The guy always goes with you to the forest; it has to mean something, _Annabeth told herself. The rational side of her mind was always quick to provide a retort, though. _Yeah, and all you two do in there is train. He opens up his wings and trains his blessing while you blow rings of fire and play around like a pyromancer gone off the rockers._

_No offense, Lady Hecate_, she intoned quickly. It wouldn't do to insult magic or the children of Hecate, all of whom were well versed in magic.

Annabeth and Percy had both learned that the titan lord Kronos was rising, and with him, evils that had long since been forgotten. Apparently, the fact that they had been slaughtering many of the monsters that the Titan wanted to recruit did not sit too well with him, and they were lucky to have been brought to camp when they did so.

It seemed that the daughter of Zeus, Thalia Grace, the most powerful demigod at camp before Annabeth and Percy showed up, had been another reason for the slow regeneration of the big bad Titan. She had been turned into a tree when she first reached the camp, but once the gods had learnt that Kronos was rising Zeus forced the council to help him revert Thalia into a human again.

Nico and Bianca di Angelo, children of Hades, had informed the pantheon of the rise of Kronos, after having been accused of stealing Zeus' masterbolt and retrieving it in time to prevent a catastrophic divine war. This had prompted the return of Thalia, just in time before Luke Castellan, son of Hermes, betrayed camp and ran off right after having poisoned Thalia's pine tree, which was the focus of the magical barrier that protected the camp.

Thalia had gone off with the children of Hades to uncover the Golden Fleece, with which they had managed to save camp once again. The fleece now hung proudly around Thalia's tree, protected by a large dragon.

**(A/N: Here comes the part which makes this a **_**completely**_** parallel universe, so bear with the change. It makes complete sense, if you look at it right.)**

Then, a little more than eight months ago, Thalia and the twins of Hades had foiled a plan by Luke to invade camp through the Labyrinth of Daedalus, thus ensuring the continued (and somewhat relative) safety of the camp. It seemed that Daedalus would have joined Luke, but Athena stepped in and finally granted the old inventor a pardon, and then Daedalus sacrificed himself so as to destroy his Labyrinth and take out a sizeable force of monsters passing through its tunnels.

It had been done in the nick of time; many monsters had almost crossed to the camp borders. Luke and Kronos had to retreat to save what was left of their army, and they were _not_ happy.

Now, the whole camp was wary of any other possible plan to destroy them, courtesy of Kronos.

Trouble came soon enough, in the shape of abduction. The summer solstice meeting day amongst the gods had been moved back by a month so as to allow Hades to settle into his permanent residence on Olympus. His children's acts and his own actions against Kronos had been recognized by the whole council and it had been decided that Hades, along with Hestia, would be reinstated amongst the council.

Artemis had asked her Hunt to take up residence at camp while she went off on a solo mission to take out the more dangerous monstrosities from Tartarus. She hadn't returned, and this was the fifth day since she had left. She had not contacted anyone for the past three days, quite unlike what she had promised to do.

Chiron had been giving a missive by the gods; once he read that to the pavilion at dinner time, the hunters were in uproar.

Only _three_ people were allowed to go and look for her, and _two_ of them had to campers. Not just any demigod camper, however; it had to be the two new additions: Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase.

Zoë Nightshade, Lieutenant of Artemis and Pride of the Hunt would not allow anyone else to go; being in a superior position to her sisters in the Hunt, she was not met with opposition.

Once the three had left with Argus in one of the camp's ridiculous undercover delivery vans, Chiron gathered the rest of the residents explained the rest of the missive.

The contingency plan comprised of the rest of the Hunters as well as Thalia and the Di Angelo twins. The satyr Grover was with them; having been declared a Lord of the Wild by Pan himself during the previous year meant that he had gained a few useful abilities which, when added on top of his normal satyr abilities, made him a decent companion and helpful ally.

Their orders were clear; tail the main group, bust them out if they were in _real_ danger of death, within limits of reason and possibility, of course. And at the current point in time, they had already failed their first directive. The backup plan, of course, was that if the primary group was to find itself incapacitated or out of commission for good, they could jump in and try and save Artemis themselves. After all, a group of twenty people were much more likely to succeed than the three people, even if they had the lieutenant of Artemis with them, right?

That would remain to be seen; right now they had to catch up with the group and tail them stealthily, quite a difficult task for bigger group to be doing.

The first monster the three companions encountered turned out to be an old friend.

It still hadn't learnt to brush its teeth, and the stench from his mouth was utterly repelling.

Of course, unlike last time, Perseus Jackson was not confused about what to do; Annabeth Chase was more than capable of defending herself without a blade; Zoë Nightshade was knocked unconscious.

Which of course greatly aided the demigods, since Zoë hadn't been told of their powers. She might have seen the two _heroes_ in a completely different light, but that was not to be. Not right now, at least.

The Nemean Lion took them by surprise when they were walking across the forest to get to the train station. It crept up behind Zoë, who had taken to walking a step behind the two demigods to keep a watch on them, and knocked her out, almost soundlessly. Percy, however, didn't hear Zoë take a step and immediately turned around.

_Yep, you still stink just as bad._

"Annabeth, can…" Before Percy could continue, however, Annabeth cut him off.

"On it! _You_ move!"

A powerful blast of fire hit the monster straight in the face. Surprised, the lion jumped back, pawing at his nose in a reflex. It would have been an adorable sight, except for the fact that this lion was pretty huge.

Percy immediately jerked out of the almost comical scene in front of him and drew his wings out. The shiny pitch-black feathers glinted beautifully under the sun, and Annabeth spared him a quick glance of hidden admiration before pulling out a new trick she had learnt.

Turning herself completely into flames she bent the light around her to vanish in broad view.

Meanwhile, Percy kept the attention of the lion by simply beatings his black wings extremely quickly. He had taken leverage against a big rock so as to not take off in the air, but the wings did the trick he wanted. The Nemean lion's roar was lost in the high powered blast of air that was almost pushing him off the ground. Percy smirked; this time round, he wasn't even considering bringing out riptide to fight the lion. He noticed Annabeth shimmering into view off to the right, and he understood what she wanted.

Beating his wings furiously, he managed to force the Nemean to one side, and as the latter opened his mouth to roar, Annabeth cooked his insides clean. The lion seemed to implode into fine dust, this time around.

Unknown to the two, a group of twenty open-mouthed demigods gaped at the scene that had played itself before their eyes. They briefly considered that the two demigods might have in fact been gods, but then they remembered that was not possible since it would have only taken a second to blast the Nemean Lion by turning in their true form. There would have been no collateral damage, either, seeing as Zoë had been knocked out cold.

When Zoë woke up, she saw a familiar face staring down at her. She groaned slightly before noticing the shawl around her.

"What happened? Why am I wearing the skin of the Lion? I am certain I was… knocked out… by it."

Annabeth smiled at her. "Well of course you were. That's also how you killed it. As you fell, your jolt kicked up some of your arrows from your quiver straight to the lion's mouth. It turned to dust before we could even turn around."

The look on Zoë's face showed how little she believed that story, but since it was the only one that she was getting, she didn't question it for long. Zoë was intrigued; though. Why would the demigods not take credit for the kill? Zoë would not have been any wiser. She tried to divert the attention away so she could think about it in peace.

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"Oh, not very long. Just about an hour. Didn't you notice? We're already on the train. It's westbound; we'll reach the western coast within the next two days if we keep to the proper schedule."

They got off the train at their stop and continued on foot to catch their next ride; a bus journey to the next train line. Normally, Percy would have simply carried Annabeth and Zoë across in half the time it took by train, but since Zoë hadn't been told, they figured it would be wiser to not enlighten her.

That night, once they were at the station, waiting for their train, Zoë excused herself, saying she had to go and check something. The demigods looked at each other and shrugged, nothing seemed out of the ordinary about that. Besides, no one was the definite leader here; they did not need to be following a specific set of orders given by one of them.

Percy would follow anything Annabeth said, however, and that became quite clear to Zoë. She pretended to walk off behind the sheltered area to where the station shops were, but in reality she just sneaked around and crept behind them. She simply _had _to know what the demigods were talking about, and if there was anything special about the two.

For almost half of the next hour, she heard nothing truly interesting. Then she heard Annabeth mention her name, and her ears perked up.

"Do you think we should tell her, Percy? She deserves to know, and it would make our lives easier during this journey."

"I don't know, Annie." Annabeth's face scrunched up when he said that; she didn't like to be called that by anyone apart from Percy, but her friend didn't know that and always tried to tease her with it. If anyone else said that, they'd find a harsh rebuttal from Annabeth, when Percy said that, she had to put up a pretense of displeasure.

"Zeus did tell us not to show off too much." Zoë was extremely interested by this; the king of the gods himself had talked to these two?

Annabeth snorted at his words. "A bit too late for that, don't you think? I'm sure Zoë has figured out by now that the gash in her head was much deeper than something that could be healed by ambrosia in an hour. I don't think she'll believe Apollo or Hestia stopped by out of the blue and healed her up. The ancient laws, remember Seaweed Brain?"

Percy made a face before answering. "Yeah, well I'm not exactly sure how well she would take to the fact that you healed her within seconds of cooking the Nemean lion into high quality dust."

"Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn't have her kept her mind unconscious till we got on the train."

Zoë was flabbergasted; she had definitely not been expecting this. She wondered if she could trust them, but then decided to give them the benefit of doubt; after all, it seemed that they had ample opportunity to kill her while she was out.

"Yeah, and how would that have worked out, Annie? Zoë couldn't have woken up that quickly after a blow like that; it would have seemed extremely suspicious." They fell silent for a short while, before resuming.

"To be honest, we're extremely lucky it decided to go for Zoë first. Sticking riptide through his mouth again would have been annoying."

"Yeah, not to mention I wouldn't have been able to stretch my wings; gods know I needed to. Say, there's no one actually on the station right now. Do you think I could…" Percy's whining got more repetitive.

Zoë interest was now piqued again. Wings? Who and _what_ exactly were these two demigods?

Annabeth sighed before giving her friend and acquiescing nod. Percy grinned and stood up, standing sideways to Zoë. He then brought his black wings out, and Zoë gasped internally. If she wasn't mistaken, these were the wings of the Angel of Death! That explained his powers. This demigod had been blessed, or cursed, whichever, by Thanatos himself!

Death was not an easy blessing to withstand, and she felt her respect for this demigod increase tenfold.

Annabeth chuckled at Percy for a while before shivering slightly. It shouldn't have been cold, but there was an odd feeling in the air, and to reassure herself, she lit her hands in flames and smiled at the cozy feeling of warmth they instantly radiated.

Zoë for her part was stunned; either Hephaestus had given a blessing of fire to the child of Athena, or Hestia had gotten herself a champion. As unlikely as it sounded, the second option was probably the more correct one. Annabeth would not have been able to heal her otherwise.

_So that's the secret of these two. I suppose I ought to confront them about it; it would indeed make our journey to my Lady much shorter._ It was decided; Zoë would jump out from behind the moment Percy sat down.

The pantheon watched quietly as they saw their plan unfurl neatly; Athena had prodded her daughter to force this conversation out of them while Poseidon had influenced Percy to itch for a stretch. Now that the second part of the plan was in action, the whole Pantheon smiled at one another; the group would not run out of time anymore.

"… So basically I know. Now tell me, is it necessary for us to be taking this train, or is there any way the two of you could travel us to our destination faster?"

At these words, Percy turned to Annabeth and grinned. This was exactly what he had been secretly hoping for; and by the looks of it, so had Annabeth.

"Yeah, Zoë, there is a way. However, you might not like it." Zoë's jaw hardened at his words, but motioned for him to continue.

"I can carry the two of you wherever we need to go; on can sit on my back while the other will be dangling by my arms. Don't worry about me tiring, my wings have done harder things before."

The arrangement was not one that Artemis would have liked, that was for certain. In the end, Zoë had managed to secure Percy's back while Annabeth ended up being the one carried across the lands in a bridal position. Not that she complained; she could easily fall asleep without interruption and Percy's wouldn't even bat an eyelid at the effort.

"Okay, before we start, I have a feeling something isn't right; would you mind keeping an open eye, Zoë, and alert me if anything bad comes to us?"

Zoë expression showed clearly that was not amused; Percy may have meant well, but he was talking to the lieutenant of Artemis; a Hunter was always aware of her surroundings.

Thankfully, they did not face interruption while they travelled. Once they reached the west coast, Percy turned to the two girls for directions.

"We must find Nereus, the old man of the sea. It is said that he knows everything. He will know where Artemis is being held."

Annabeth pondered for a while before realizing that they would need to capture him twice if they wanted an answer to their questions. She relayed her thoughts to Zoë, and surprisingly, the latter agreed with her plan.

The two girls found themselves tackling the old man and holding on for dear life as he thrashed around, jerked around, morphed in and out of shape; in the end, they got their answer. Artemis was holding up the sky. Zoë paled; she realized that it meant trouble. Atlas was free; who knew what plans he was hatching. Most of all, Zoë hated the idea that she would have to confront her family again.

They let Nereus walk away, only to find himself man-handled by Percy into answering another question. The answer that he got scared him slightly, but when he told the other two, Annabeth assured him that she would find a way to set it right. That gave him hope; Percy knew that whenever Annabeth set her heart to something, it usually ended up getting done.

A couple of surprise monster attack later, the demigods found themselves nearing the Garden of the Hesperides. The shocking revelation that Zoë was one of them didn't seem to faze anyone; after all, weirder things had happened. Matters became delicate and complicated once Ladon was called; however. The hundred headed dragon was no joke. Thankfully, Percy didn't need to limit himself to Riptide during his fights.

Everyone took a step back and watched in awe as the demigod assumed his true shape; similar to the true form of the gods, but nowhere near as powerful. At least not, powerful enough to obliterate any visible monsters. Not that the true form of any god would have been of use against Ladon; the dragon was too ancient and too powerful to be destroyed by a bit of bright light.

Annabeth decided to step up and help her best friend. Together, they wanted to hold off the guardian of the garden long enough to run around it. Zoë couldn't only watch with slight trepidation during the fight, however. Percy had been blasting Ladon with black bolts; the water in the garden pond either did not respond to him, or he was more powerful while bearing the Blessing of Thanatos. As Percy took to the airs, Annabeth dropped down from a nearby mound and began burning the big dragon's feet.

Something about Percy seemed to captivate the dragon so much that all of its heads were directed on the demigod, allowing Annabeth much more freedom of movement. Maybe it was the wings; after all, the all-too natural glow they gave off, while being so unnatural-looking, seemed to entrance humans and monsters alike.

As the three demigods managed to skirt around the danger, Thalia's group arrived at the scene. Since Zoë had made a dash for the current Mount Othrys, with Percy and Annabeth right behind her, they hadn't seen Thalia and the others.

The fight was much easier for them; all it took was a couple of shadow-travelling tricks, and everyone was safely across. The twins were tired, though; they hadn't shadow-travelled so many people together beforehand.

They would have continued up the steps, but all of a sudden a surprise Iris message from the throne room kept them in check. Apparently, Zeus thought it would be too dangerous for too many people to go in there together, so they had wait and see what happened to the trio that had gone in earlier on before they could do anything to help.

The sight before him sent Percy into a previously unseen rage. Here was the goddess of the hunt herself, being mistreated and forced to hold up the sky.

Annabeth had never seen Percy shake with fury, and she was glad. Even Atlas flinched once he saw the look on Percy's face. Artemis seemed to be in stupor; a debilitated image that only served heighten the look of pure fury emanating from both Zoë's and Percy's faces. The latter turned to Annabeth.

"Annabeth, you're stronger than me, you have the spirit of Hope in you. Do you think you could fight the titan while I help Artemis out? Zoë will be helping you, but our main concern in this situation is to get Artemis out from under that burden."

Annabeth was almost indignant; normally she laid out their battle plans; she was better than Percy (or so she believed) at them, most of the time. However, now was not the time to argue, and thankfully she had the wisdom to see that. She gave a slight nod to Zoë before blasting a plume of fire directly up Atlas' nostrils, to the hilarity of some of the monsters surrounding them. Zoë sighed; she had gotten stuck with crazy demigods.

Most of the monsters had crumbled to dust with the first fifteen seconds of the fight; Zoë's skill with the bow was commendable. Annabeth danced around Atlas, annoying the titan to no end, blasting left and right the traitorous demigods.

She felt and odd sense of satisfaction as she was doing this; she brushed it off as being a side-effect of the adrenaline coursing through her body.

Meanwhile Percy had just finished killing the last monster guarding Artemis and knelt down beside the goddess.

"Lady Artemis, please, give me the sky and help my friends bring Atlas back here!"

The slightly pleading tone, coupled with the impatient sense of urgency was enough for Artemis to consider the offer. The moment she did so, though, she relaxed her gripped on the sky, and Percy body checked her out of the way and caught the sky before it had a chance to get to the ground.

Whatever annoyance Artemis felt at being treated in such a way by the male demigod was gone once she turned to him and saw his face. The look of pure agony didn't last for long, though. Artemis watched in surprise as she saw Percy grow wings. The black wings of Death seemed to help him find the right balance and helped him crouch into a more comfortable position under the sky, which eased his pained by a mere fraction. That fraction was enough however; gritting his teeth, he sent a pleading look to Artemis to help his friends.

That jolted her back from the trance and she materialized her bow and began to help the two girls with their fight.

Atlas had almost managed to grab Annabeth when Zoë and Artemis both sent arrows that lodged themselves in his side. The titan groaned in slight pain before flashing a murderous look at both. He pulled both arrows out before breaking them in pieces.

Annabeth was no sitting duck, though. She nimbly dodged Atlas' blows, and with each jump, her speed seemed to increase slightly. It got to point where she could have easily passed off as a professional acrobat and fire-eater.

The high-powered, concentrated blasts of silver energy from Artemis combined with Annabeth's own pyroblasts to create devastating projectiles that knocked the titan off his feet when he got hit. One of them sent him crashing into the side of the new Mount Othrys, and that gave the three girls some respite. Annabeth immediately turned to Percy, and let out a horrified shriek once she saw his condition.

Percy gritted his teeth and held the sky, all the while Artemis and the girls fought the titan. He almost felt sorry for the titan, having to hold this for so long. _Almost,_ however, meant that Percy's agonizing internal screams stopped him from thinking those thoughts.

The pain burned his body, he couldn't feel his back, and he was certain that his arms would not be able to hold his own weight any longer. Just as he was about to collapse, he felt the tremendous pressure lessen greatly.

Annabeth Chase was glowing; the spirit of Elpis burned brightly within her, and the power of Hope filled her body. She had taken off a lot of the weight that Percy had to bear, and together, the two demigods were sharing the sky. Percy had an immensely grateful look in his eyes, and even managed a small smile which only Annabeth was privy to.

They didn't have to hold it for long; as Atlas barreled towards Zoë in fitful rage, Artemis tackled him from the side, sending him sprawling to where Percy and Annabeth were kneeling. At the last second possible, both demigods sprang away from under the sky and Atlas took their place, howling in anger.

To be honest, only Annabeth dived away. Percy didn't have the energy left in him to make that jump, and he couldn't ready his muscles for the jump. Annabeth had resort to giving Percy some of her share of the weight so she could punch him away, and thankfully Atlas took the fall.

Artemis and Zoë instantly grabbed the two demigods and left the mountain. Acting on a mental directive she received from Zeus, Artemis quickly located the group of demigods that had been watching over the whole situation and flashed them back to Camp Half-Blood.

She would have flashed her own little group, too, but after holding up the sky for so long, fighting Atlas, and flashing away the big group of Hunters, she was exhausted. The resourceful lieutenant of Artemis quickly found a nearby motel and the four of them quickly propped into their respective beds.

Percy Jackson, a mere demigod, had held up the sky for almost an hour alone. Heracles was the only other demigod that held the sky for a similar time, and he had been blessed with superior strength. His body did not hurt anymore, but the memories of the pain were still fresh in his mind.

When he woke up next morning, he found his pillow had been replaced with Annabeth's lap. She was smiling softly at him and caressing his head, and Percy knew that he was safe. He sighed contently and closed his eyes again.

"Thank you, Annabeth. You know, when you helped me there, it seemed like you were my own guardian angel." Annabeth's face flushed a bit at his comment before she replied in a hushed tone.

"Well, I couldn't really leave you there, could I, Seaweed Brain?" Percy chuckled at her words. He opened his eyes as he did so, and he stared deep into Annabeth's eyes.

Not out of anything other than pure worry, because her usually storm-grey eyes had morphed into a much lighter colour, and she seemed to be glowing. With a slight yelp he sat up and faced Annabeth.

"Annie! Please tell me you didn't join the Hunters!" His anxious tone put a frown on her face, and a look of puzzlement showed on her face.

"What are you talking about, Percy?"

Artemis and Zoë both turned to them at that moment and Artemis summoned a mirror to show her what was going on.

Annabeth Chase was glowing. She had a very _pure_ look about her, as if she had been turned into a goddess. That's when things began to get complicated.

Hestia flashed to their location and immediately healed what little injury remained on the four of them, before informing them that Elpis was no longer residing in Pandora's pithos.

Apparently, Elpis was now in Annabeth, and the Champion of Hestia had become Hope, the Angel of Mercy. Percy smiled at that. "Yeah, she's my angel of mercy, alright."

Hestia smiled at the two before continuing. "It's very fitting, you know. Annabeth is the Angel of Mercy while Perseus is the Angel of Darkness. However, one small thing remains."

Hestia turned to Percy, who looked up expectantly. "Percy, Annabeth is now partly immortal. She will likely stay on this earth as Hope, and she needs a force to ... ah, _balance_ her. You are the only other Angel alive, and the only one to balance Hope. Thanatos is Death, but you are the Angel of Darkness. Would you receive his full blessing, and remain the true spirit of Vengeance?"

For Percy, this was a no-brainer. He hesitated when he remembered his mother, but when he was told he could still visit her, he accepted immediately.

Thanatos shimmered into their room and blessed Percy, happy to have found a soul pure and true enough so that his blessing would not be a curse. Taking his leave, he flashed off to Olympus to announce the news. Needless to say, it didn't sit too well with Poseidon; the god was losing his son to another one. Athena calmed him down, however, and reminded him that Percy would still be able to visit Atlantis, could still retain his base water abilities, and still talk with sea-creatures and horses.

Athena herself was immensely proud of her Annabeth; Hope now had a physical embodiment, and she was almost certain that she felt better, deep within herself, the moment Elpis had become tangible. Kronos would have to fight hard to break their spirits now.

Artemis and Zoë congratulated both demigods, albeit a bit grudgingly to Percy in Zoë case, but the Angel of Darkness did not mind it in the least; he was giddy with joy. He would get to be around with his Wise girl forever (or a very long time, anyways).

Or so he thought.

After Artemis flashed back to Camp, she heard Zeus tell her to present the demigods to camp properly. She relayed the message, but Annabeth hatched a plan that would help them out more.

"My lady, there is no need for Kronos to find out about us, is there?

"Yes, very true. What are you saying, child?"

"Well, I have a feeling that we may have spies at Camp, and Percy and I could definitely find out who they are and bring them to their senses before revealing ourselves. It's one of the perks of being Hope." Annabeth smiled slightly after the joke.

Artemis mused for a bit before agreeing with her plan; no doubt the gods would be happy that their children were going to side with them again. She waved her to the amphitheatre, where all of Camp was present.

Chiron and the campers gasped when Artemis, Zoë, Percy and Annabeth flashed in the middle of the amphitheatre. All the demigods present bowed, except for the new arrivals, and the Hunters themselves were bursting with questions.

Artemis quieted them all with a simple wave of her hand, and nodded to Annabeth.

A quarter of an hour later, six dazed demigods sat down near the bottom seats of the theatre and pledged themselves to the gods. Percy nodded at Annabeth, and they both decided to reveal their true shapes.

It was a beautiful sight; two angels, one shrouded by the light, one with wings as black as the night, both hovering ten feet above the ground. Many campers gasped at the wings, and _many_ of them noted the beautiful, truly angelic features of both demigods. They weren't certain what to call them anymore, so when the two in question announced themselves as Hope and Vengeance, they all cheered their names loud and clear for all to hear.

Of course, they still called them Percy and Annabeth; just because they had two angels on their side did not mean that they weren't demigods first. Which, naturally, entailed that they still had the primary functions and duties of a demigod: fight evil monsters and go on quests in favour of the gods.

The council meeting went by as planned, and Hades and Hestia ascended to the council. There was a slight change of plans, because they also celebrated the attendance of the two Angels to their council.

From now on, Kronos would have to be extremely careful; facing angels without proper precaution could quickly end ugly for him.

From the Scrying Pools inside Elysium, Sally Jackson sighed. Her little boy wouldn't come down and spend the rest of time with her any more. He was now immortal, and though he could now visit her, she doubted he would willingly stay with her. _Ah well, all things happen for a reason._

She didn't know _how right_ she was.

**(A/N: I know I don't write Line Break when I make time jumps, but I figured I might write one as a change. Let me know if it's actually helpful or mostly distracting and you can figure it out for yourselves.)**

Vengeance, otherwise known as Perseus Jackson, had suggested a revolutionary idea at winter solstice meet, which had been fully supported by Hope.

The essence of the request lay in the small problem that some of the minor deities were helping Kronos. The minor gods needed to be treated with a bit more respect, so as to ensure their continued loyalty vis-à-vis Olympus.

The gist of the request was that the minor gods would be getting their own cabins at Camp. Hades and Hestia each had gotten their own after their ascension to the council, and Hestia's cabin had become the one where all new and unclaimed demigods stayed. Hermes had been extremely pleased, and so he was listening to Percy's proposal with rapt attention.

Zeus found the idea novel enough to agree, and after Annabeth's eloquent speech as to why the proposal should be carried out, more than half the council agreed, thus allowing it to pass.

The result of this decision was that instead of joining Kronos, Hecate became a spy for the Olympians. Thanatos was happy, he could ask her 'to go steady with him' without having to join Kronos; he wasn't even sure Vengeance would allow it.

Trouble, however, hit the Olympians again, and this time, Hecate was caught right in the middle of the mess. Subsequently, probably trying to save her, Thanatos himself had been captured, and with his unwilling help, a couple more Titans had been able to escape their prison.

Zeus got a headache from the dilemma; he wasn't sure if the two Angels of Olympus would take care of the matter, or if he had to send his daughter and his nephew and niece. After all, they had proven themselves three times over, while the son of Poseidon and the daughter of Athena had only gone on one quest.

The question answered itself, a couple of days later, when Annabeth felt a deep disturbance in the east, and elected to go and clarify the matter.

Percy joined her, of course; he wouldn't let her go anywhere without him, and it was pretty much vice-versa on the matter. They let the council know before flying in the general direction of the disturbance.

When they got nearby, however, Percy promptly fell unconscious, and hurtled down from their high altitude to the ground far below.

* * *

**So, tell me, how was it? Would you like me to change certain aspects of this story? I would like reviews from readers, thanks.**

**I'll PM people who favourite this but don't leave a review, just to find out why.**

**I'll be updating Godly Dissension after this; Insanity and Redemption is currently way ahead of my other two stories, and therefore (since they're in parallel timelines) I'm updating these stories first.**


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